Fasteners, such as nails or screws, for securing a cover board to supporting members such as joists, are well known. Typically, the fastener is disposed through the exposed face of the cover board and into the supporting member leaving the fastener head visible. Recently, so called “hidden” systems which fasten cover boards to support members without a visible fastener in the exposed face of the cover board have come into demand.
One conventional method of providing a hidden system involves first drilling a throughbore and a counterbore into the cover board and subsequently disposing a fastener through the cover board and into a supporting structure with the head of the fastener recessed below the surface of the cover board in the counterbore. A plug is disposed in the counterbore to hide the fastener head from view. This method requires predrilling the throughbore and counterbore using a first tool followed by fastener insertion using a second tool and then plug insertion. Such methods are very time consuming. Other hidden fastener systems require extensive preparation of the system components such as installing tracks on the joists, pre-drilling slots in cover boards for fasteners, or gluing the cover boards to the joists. Some hidden decking systems must be substantially installed from below—a time consuming, expensive and potentially dangerous procedure. In addition, the widespread use of composite material presents special problems in efficiently achieving hidden systems.